Are there any success stories?
Grace Sheppard
'I'm one of the lucky ones'
When my daughter was three years old, I was wheeled into the operating theatre to have my appendix removed. It was night, and this was an emergency. In the morning I woke to discover that instead, my ovaries had been removed. I had joined the big C brigade. I had cancer of the ovaries, and was given a 50/50 chance of survival. My husband was devastated. I did not know what had hit me.
Now, 31 years later, I am very much alive to tell the tale, and I thank God.
Facing that kind of news is a shock to any young woman, with or without children. Not all are as fortunate as I was. Sarah Dickinson's courage is an inspiration. I gladly support her, and those who are setting up this newsletter. It will provide a vital support network to sufferers and their families as they fight against the odds. It will prevent so many from fighting the battle alone.
Newsletters only come alive when its readers contribute to them; letters, stories, tips and funds. This newsletter could make all the difference to one cancer sufferer. It just might give her that vital piece of hope to keep up the fight a bit longer, and who knows, she may even survive.
Grace Sheppard,
Grace Sheppard is the author of 'An Aspect of Fear' and 'Pits and Pedestals' (published by Darton, Longman and Todd). Her husband, David Sheppard, is the Bishop of Liverpool.
Anne Coyle
In February 1976 I discovered a lump in my groin and, even though I didn稚 feel ill, I went to the doctor. Within three days I was in hospital having a cyst removed from my ovary. Three weeks later I was having a hysterectomy and my ovaries removed. I had just turned 29. The doctor said it was a malignant cyst, a very serious condition, and the outlook was very bleak indeed. I think I was perhaps one of the first people to be treated with chemotherapy, a drug called Endoxana. I had ten injections, two tablets each day for one year and then one tablet a day for another year. I asked questions, as anyone would, but I was a patient then and not a customer and the doctors just put me off.
I know I have been very fortunate indeed but I was no different from anybody else when diagnosed: the outlook bleak, future uncertain. But it is all in the past now. I have lived a full and active life, have never taken a vitamin supplement, had HRT (even though I have been on a premature change for 22 years), changed my diet and, to my shame, still smoke. I have seen my son grow up and a fair amount of the world. Although my treatment may appear basic it was the best available at the time and worked for me.
Three weeks ago I went to my GP to ask for the medical term for my condition. Well, finally after all these years I was told I had "a well differentiated adenocarcinoma of the ovary" I知 none the wiser as to what it is exactly, but it looks like I must be a customer now because I got the answer. I cannot pretend it has all been plain sailing. I had some fairly nasty side effects from the chemotherapy in the early days and, since alcohol no longer agrees with me, I haven稚 had a drink since 1978 ( it started to disagree with me in 1976 but I persevered for another two years).
I was discharged from hospital 12 years ago, probably because they needed a forklift truck to lift my notes. I have always been an optimist, tried to look on the bright side of life and carried much of the trauma of the diagnosis inside because other people, as I知 sure you値l agree, find it difficult to deal with.
Times have changed and people do live longer than five years. I have survived for 23 years and I知 sure that I知 not the only one.
Anne Coyle
Bolton
